Why Is This Important?

More than one-third of Alaska adults are overweight. Overweight and obesity and their associated health problems have a significant economic impact on the health care system. Obesity and overweight are determined by calculating Body Mass Index (BMI) from a person's weight and height. BMI provides a reliable indicator of body fatness for most people, and it is used to screen for weight categories that increase the risk of health problems.
Many adverse health outcomes are associated with overweight and obesity. Obesity increases the risk of type 2 diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure, stroke gallbladder disease, osteoarthritis, sleep apnea, respiratory problems, and some types of cancer.^1^ It also negatively affects physical performance, life expectancy, and quality of life.^2^[[br]]
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1. Lauby-Secretan B, Scoccianti C, Loomis D, Grosse Y, et al. Body Fatness and Cancer - Viewpoint of the IARC Working Group. N Engl J Med 2016;375:794-798.
2. Olshansky SJ, Passaro DJ, Hershow RC, Layden J, et al. A potential decline in life expectancy in the United States in the 21st century. N Engl J Med 2005;352(11):1138-45.
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Chart

Data Table

Data Notes

Notes

Ethnicity is defined independent of race. It is based upon responses to the question, "Are you Hispanic, Latino/a, or Spanish origin?" Responses of "Don't Know/Not Sure" or "Refused" are excluded.

Data Interpretation Issues

Although the prevalence of overweight is presented independent of obesity in this report, interpretation of the overweight results should be conducted in the context of data on obesity prevalence. Subpopulations may have relatively low rates of overweight paired with relatively high rates of obesity. It is the combination of overweight and obesity prevalence that gives the most complete picture of risk for weight-related health conditions.
Alaska data were obtained from the Standard BRFSS from 1991-2003, and from the Standard and Supplemental BRFSS surveys combined from 2004 onward. The Supplemental BRFSS survey is conducted using identical methodology as the Standard BRFSS and allows a doubling of the BRFSS sample size for those measures included in both surveys.
Post-stratification weights were used for Alaska prior to 2006; raking weights were used from 2007 onward. For more on this methodological change see: [http://dhss.alaska.gov/dph/Chronic/Pages/brfss/method.aspx].
Questions on the height and weight of respondents have been components of the Standard BRFSS since its inception in 1991 and for the Supplemental BRFSS since it began in 2004.
Alaska Native people in analyses of the BRFSS refers to any mention of American Indian or Alaska Native heritage when enumerating racial and ethnic background. Individuals who indicate multiple races including American Indian/Alaska Native are considered Alaska Native in the data. When race and ethnicity are consider concurrently, Hispanic individuals with American Indian/Alaska Native heritage are combined into the Alaska Native (any mention) group and removed from the Hispanic class.
This definition of the Alaska Native group is intended to conform to the eligibility requirements for access to Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium health care services.

Health Indicator Definition

Definition

Percentage of adults 18 years of age and older who are overweight as defined by a body mass index (BMI) of >= 25.0 and <30.0 as computed by the [http://dhss.alaska.gov/dph/Chronic/Pages/brfss/default.aspx Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS)]. BMI is calculated as self-reported weight ("About how much do you weigh without shoes?") in kilograms divided by self-reported height ("About how tall are you without shoes?") in meters squared.

Numerator

Weighted number of adults (18+) who have a BMI of >= 25.0 and <30.0 calculated from self-reported weight ("About how much do you weigh without shoes?") and height ("About how tall are you without shoes?") on the BRFSS, excluding women who are pregnant and biologically implausible values.

Denominator

Weighted number of adults (18+) for whom BMI can be calculated from their self-reported weight and height on the BRFSS, excluding women who are pregnant, biologically implausible values, or "Do not know/Not Sure" or "Refused" responses.

Health Objectives and Targets

Other Objectives

Healthy Alaskans 2020 Indicator 4.a: Reduce the percentage of adults (age 18 years and older) who meet criteria for overweight (body mass index of >=25 and <30 kg/(m*m)) to 36% by 2020.

Current Outlook

How Are We Doing?

The percentage of Alaska adults who are overweight has remained relatively constant since 2000.
Additional interpretation on overweight in Alaska are available at: [http://dhss.alaska.gov/dph/Chronic/Pages/Obesity/default.aspx].
Prevalence rates for overweight from the BRFSS are initially presented for all Alaskans, Alaska Native people, and the median from states, District of Columbia, and territories for all available years. This is followed by rates for combined overweight and obese for all Alaskans and Alaska Native people to show the rise in excess weight. Subsequent analyses by demographic subpopulations (i.e., sex, age, race/ethnicity, ethnicity, marital status, education, employment status, income, and poverty status) are limited to 2010 and later to allow for ease in assessing recent trends.
Crosstabulations by current smoking, sexual orientation and disability were conducted for the 3-year average of 2015-2017. Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) score crosstabulations are presented for 2013-2015. Only the significant differences related to disability are presented, but the other comparisons are available upon request.
The rates of overweight by regions of Alaska are presented for the most recent time period allowing reporting for all Alaskans and Alaska Native people: 1) single-year for the 7 Alaska Public Health Regions, 2) three-year averages by the 5 Metropolitan and Micropolitan Statistics Areas and rural remainder, 3) single-year for the 10 behavioral health assessment regions based upon aggregations of 20,000 population, 4) three-year averages for 29 boroughs and census areas, and 5) five-year averages for the 12 tribal health organization regions. These time intervals match those for the InstantAtlas health profiles for each of the geographic regionalizes of Alaska for those desiring longer time series.

How Do We Compare With the U.S.?

The rate of overweight among Alaska adults has paralleled the rate seen in the United States overall.

Health Improvement Resources

What Is Being Done?

The mission of the Obesity Prevention and Control Program is to prevent and reduce obesity among Alaskans though the promotion of physical activity and good nutrition. The program:
[[br]]a) manages the Play Every Day campaign, Community Nutrition efforts, Early Care and Education (ECE) Obesity Prevention Partnerships, the Obesity Prevention School Partnerships and supports Healthy Futures;
[[br]]b) serves as a credible source of information on the causes, health and economic consequences of obesity;
[[br]]c) provides information to the public, health professionals, and the media;
[[br]]d) maintains systematic collection, analysis, evaluation and reporting of obesity prevalence and related physical activity and nutrition behaviors;
[[br]]e) identifies population groups at greatest risk for the health threats of obesity;
[[br]]f) develops partnerships with and provides leadership to a wide variety of private and public agencies;
[[br]]g) provides technical advice and support to partners in implementing obesity prevention strategies;
[[br]]h) facilitates the Alaska Alliance for Healthy Kids that works to prevent childhood obesity; and
[[br]]i) facilitates the Alaska Food Policy Council that works to strengthen Alaska's food systems to spur local economic development, increase food security, and improve nutrition and health.

The information provided above is from the Alaska Department of
Health and Social Services' Center for Health Data and Statistics,
Alaska Indicator-Based Information System for Public Health (Ak-IBIS)
web site (http://ibis.dhss.alaska.gov). The information published
on this website may be reproduced without permission. Please use
the following citation:
"
Retrieved
Sun, 15 September 2019
from Alaska Department of Health and Social Services, Center for
Health Data and Statistics, Alaska Indicator-Based Information
System for Public Health web site: http://ibis.dhss.alaska.gov
".

Content updated: Mon, 14 Jan 2019 14:01:36 AKST

The information provided above is from the Alaska Department of Health and Social Services' Center for Health Data and Statistics AK-IBIS web site (http://ibis.dhss.alaska.gov/). The information published
on this website may be reproduced without permission. Please use the following citation:
"
Retrieved
Sun, 15 September 2019 1:37:25
from Alaska Department of Health and Social Services, Center for Health Data and Statistics, Indicator-Based Information
System for Public Health Web site: http://ibis.dhss.alaska.gov/
".